Olga Yatskevich picks Geografia de la diferencia Philippe Gruenberg from Meier Ramirez.
"This year 10x10 Photobooks, a non-profit organization I co-founded, started a new project on Contemporary Latin American Photobooks (10x10 CLAP). We invited people knowledgeable about the photobook scene in the region to each select around ten books published between 2000 and 2016. With the total selection of over a hundred books, it was a great way to discover new titles. One of them is Geografia de la diferencia by a Peruvian artist Philippe Gruenberg.

Geografia de la diferencia is an elegant and simple photobook. It documents the transfer of a complete palm tree oasis in the Ica desert to private land in the bay of Lima. The purpose? Beautification of a private beach club. Geografia de la diferencia is a small square book, constructed in an accordion format. It folds out into a continuous cinematic stretch, step-by-step revealing the process of urban reconstruction. The book opens with photographs of a wild oasis under the blue sky. Then the palm trees are aggressively cut out, their roots and dry leaves are trimmed; bulldozers, surrounded by a heavy cloud of exhaust gas, transport the trees to a new location, and finally they are re-planted in a new environment. Images vary in size and are smartly edited creating a surprising visual flow. The last few images in the series depict isolated bald palm trees planted around parking lot. A striking contrast to the idyllic beauty of the opening photographs. Using local narrative, Geografia de la diferencia boldly and almost unassumingly addresses the issue of the territorial appropriation and landscape reconstruction in Gruenberg’s native Lima."—Olga Yatskevich

Olga Yatskevich is a co-founder of the 10x10 Photobooks, a multi-platform ongoing series of projects highlighting photobooks and engaging the photobook community. She is a contributing writer for Collector Daily. Olga is the founder of the Facebook Photobook Group, a forum for discussing various aspects of the photobook culture. She is also involved with the Anamorphosis Prize which was established to promote excellence, dialogue and excitement in the field of self-published photobooks and photo-based artist books.